User profile for user: proabhinav
proabhinav Author
User level: Level 1
13 points

Mac Mini - Teams background not visible Issue !

I’m facing a strange issue on my Mac during video calls and looking for advice.


Whenever I join a Microsoft Teams or Zoom call with my camera ON, my actual background is not visible. Instead, the video feed shows a greyed/static-looking background.


Because of this:


I cannot show my real background

Teams only allows me to pick from its virtual background options

Same behaviour happens in Zoom as well


This is not intentional on my side.


Details:


Mac (Apple Silicon) M2

Using built-in camera / external monitor camera (issue happens regardless)

macOS camera permissions are enabled



My questions:


Is there any setting in macOS that forces background masking even when apps disable it?

Has anyone else faced this and found a fix?


I want the camera to behave like a raw webcam feed, showing the real background without any processing.


Any help or direction would be appreciated.


macOS version - Latest

Mac model (M2)

monitor built in camera ( Dell P2724DEB)


Mac mini

Posted on Jan 3, 2026 10:56 AM

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User profile for user: HWTech
HWTech
User level: Level 9
69,170 points

Posted on Jan 3, 2026 8:14 PM

AFAIK, only the Teams app can configure the background shown within a Teams video chat. It is possible your Teams preference .plist file is corrupt. You can first try modifying the background options in the Teams app to see if it can correct the issue. Otherwise, you can try deleting the Teams preference .plist file within "~/Library/Preferences" folder which is within the hidden Library folder of your macos home user account folder. Look for files names beginning with "com.microsoft.teams". I have two such files on my system. Most likely it will be the file named "com.microsoft.teams.plist".


Keep in mind that deleting this file will reset all of your custom Teams settings. You can first try renaming the file by adding ".old" to the file name.


Make sure the Teams app is completely closed before trying to delete the preference file.


You can do the same with the Zoom app as well.



proabhinav wrote:

macOS version - Latest

This is very ambiguous. The latest version of which major version of macOS? It could mean 14.8.3, 15.7.3, or 26.2. Always list the actual full version number so there is no question. While you may mean 26.2, many people who ask for help on this forum have a lot of different interpretations of what "latest version" means. Plus many people are not aware that a new minor OS update patch may have just been released.


So I'm assuming the actual camera is working correctly. Only the background is being affected, but your own image is seen as expected?


Does PhotoBooth work as expected or does it also have the same issue with the background?


Are you running any anti-virus software, cleaning/optimizer apps, or third party security software? If so, perhaps they are interfering in some way. Uninstall those apps by following their developer's instructions (deleting the app to the Trash is not usually sufficient since those types of apps generally install things into other areas of the OS).

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: HWTech
HWTech
User level: Level 9
69,170 points

Jan 3, 2026 8:14 PM in response to proabhinav

AFAIK, only the Teams app can configure the background shown within a Teams video chat. It is possible your Teams preference .plist file is corrupt. You can first try modifying the background options in the Teams app to see if it can correct the issue. Otherwise, you can try deleting the Teams preference .plist file within "~/Library/Preferences" folder which is within the hidden Library folder of your macos home user account folder. Look for files names beginning with "com.microsoft.teams". I have two such files on my system. Most likely it will be the file named "com.microsoft.teams.plist".


Keep in mind that deleting this file will reset all of your custom Teams settings. You can first try renaming the file by adding ".old" to the file name.


Make sure the Teams app is completely closed before trying to delete the preference file.


You can do the same with the Zoom app as well.



proabhinav wrote:

macOS version - Latest

This is very ambiguous. The latest version of which major version of macOS? It could mean 14.8.3, 15.7.3, or 26.2. Always list the actual full version number so there is no question. While you may mean 26.2, many people who ask for help on this forum have a lot of different interpretations of what "latest version" means. Plus many people are not aware that a new minor OS update patch may have just been released.


So I'm assuming the actual camera is working correctly. Only the background is being affected, but your own image is seen as expected?


Does PhotoBooth work as expected or does it also have the same issue with the background?


Are you running any anti-virus software, cleaning/optimizer apps, or third party security software? If so, perhaps they are interfering in some way. Uninstall those apps by following their developer's instructions (deleting the app to the Trash is not usually sufficient since those types of apps generally install things into other areas of the OS).

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Mac Mini - Teams background not visible Issue !

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